Getting started

Now that I am figuring out my schedule and what I have to do and such, I am starting to get a routine set in. I usually don't have obligations at the college in the morning so I avoid the morning rush hour and I get to the college in time to eat lunch with Ben and the Yunyi and other. There seems to be three popular options for lunch. Eating at the cafeteria, going to a local restaurant, or getting food at the convenience store. We ate at the cafeteria yesterday and today we ate food from the convenience store. Surprisingly delicious. They even cook anything you buy, whether it is cup noodles or pasta or a calzone. So much more convenient than convenience stores in the US. I am going to miss the Japanese 7-elevens.

There are two train stations we can use to get to Shinjuku. The first is the one I usually use, which is Sengawa. It is a bit longer of a walk, but it is one stop closer to Shinjuku. The second, Tsutsujigoka, is a few minutes closer but we have to walk through a bunch of side streets to get there. It is also a larger station that has faster trains, so either one works the same. I'm mentioning this because I realized walking back one day that I could freeline on the side streets and not worry about traffic. Since it was dry, I took my freelines out and cruised around the side streets for a bit. I am a bit out of practice, but I still managed to freak out all the locals. It was great to freeline again though. You know, when it ISN'T raining. I. Hate. Rain.

Since my clinic meeting wasn't until 3, Ben and I sat in the back of the English class Yunyi and Bunny are in. It reminded me that English is way too complicated. And it is really fun to listen to the class since they are being taught British-English. I can't help but think of all the girls I know that would love Sebastian's accent. My clinic meeting was fairly short, I have a bit of research I want to do then I am buying materials next week so I can hopefully get my testing started end of next week or the beginning of the next. Since the theory behind what I have to do isn't complicated, I am planning to do extensive testing so my results will be plenty definitive. And I'll still have too much free time.

I am currently trying to make plans for this weekend. I found some places on google for salsa dancing, but I am going to try to convince people to join me before I go. I do have at least one planned adventure though. It is a monthly salsa event, and it looks like a great event. The cover charge is high, but I don't want to miss the opportunity. Interestingly, all the salsa venues I found advertised having one of two different styles - New York or Cali. Time to find out which style I have. And I still have the blues community that Pejing sent me a link for, I'll do more research on that soon too.

Other than that, I am just asking all the people I talk to if they have weekend plans. I might be able to plan something with Arisa for tomorrow and I'm excited for that because her English isn't as practiced as Yunyi and company, so I get to work on my Japanese.

My brother Michael turned 21 yesterday (June 1st), and now he is in Vegas with my parents and his girlfriend. I skyped with them before they left and it was nice to see them. It was my first time skyping with family too. My dad said my eyes look more slanted... I'll have to start threatening them with "Be nice or I won't come back home." On are more serious note, I hope they all have fun in Vegas. My parents don't often take breaks from work, and my dad recently made the transition from the factory floor to management, so he has been pulling 12+ shifts 6 times a week. 

And I have realized I am terrible about taking pictures, so you all should yell at me to remind me.